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Parks and Recreation is ending tonight after seven seasons. It’s one of my favorite series. It’s a go-to series to put on when there’s nothing else to watch, and if you ask JC, you’ll find out that I’ve actually memorized lines from some episodes.

I wish I could say this was one of these series that I watched from the start and immediately fell in love with. It wasn’t. I remember watching the first season and being so disappointed. I didn’t love Leslie; I found her annoying. I hated Tom. Andy was just awful — why would Ann possibly date him? They were a couple that lacked any chemistry whatsoever. And Ron Swanson? Well, he made no impression at all.

I stopped watching for the second season, insisting all those reviewers that said it got better weren’t in their right mind. But in a sweet turn of fate, I started watching Party Down that year. I grew attached to Adam Scott. And in my sadness in discovering I had two short seasons of that show and nothing else, I discovered Mr. Scott was turning to an NBC favorite. He was joining Parks and Rec.

I started watching season three and never looked back. No, that’s not true. I looked back just this past weekend, when we officially started the series from the beginning (my habit was to start at the last two episodes of season two, Adam Scott and Rob Lowe’s first appearances) to see how bad those episodes really were. I now admit: I was wrong. They weren’t terrible. They weren’t the Parks and Rec I now know and love, but knowing what the show would become, they were suddenly better. And season two was even better than the first. And the show just kept improving since then (well, except for any episode centered on Councilman Jam; I’m still not a fan of those).

Now tonight we’ll say good-bye to Pawnee, Indiana, and the group of misfits that came with it. But before we sign off, let’s look at some of my own favorite memories.

Snake Juice: I should save this for last, but come on, it’s just too awesome. So let’s start with one of the funniest moments on the show, particularly Ron Swanson’s dancing.

It’s a tension that has been building silently for a while now. And honestly, as I mentioned on Twitter, I kinda forgot that Abby was chancellor at all. Over the last few episodes, she’s been being more of a mom than a leader, following around her daughter while she called the shots. Others had noticed. Even Kane mentioned that they were following a “child.” Somehow, Abby didn’t see it.

Or at least she didn’t process it. Or maybe she didn’t process her role in Camp Jaha’s government. She hasn’t been in charge; no one has really expected to take order from her. Until this episode.

And by the way, Clarke is a badass.

Ok, let’s backtrack because a lot of things happened in this episode. Bellamy successfully got into Mt. Weather, though it certainly wasn’t pleasant when he got there. The process these people — these prisoners — go through just to be clean enough to be bled… it’s ugly. Fortunately, Bellamy seems to have gotten through it a little less painfully than some of the others he was with, though I personally would never want to experience whatever huge metal thing went into his mouth. [Shiver.]

We’re lucky that Bellamy just happened to come across Maya so early. If not, I have no idea how this plan would have gone. Yes, it seemed a little convenient, but come one. The plot must go on. I did feel absolutely horrible that Bellamy killed Lovejoy, though (ironic, considering his name). It was a grotesque scene, and the look on Maya’s face clearly showed that she was digesting exactly what she was getting into by allying with Bellamy and the other 47. But it killed me to see Lovejoy’s son. I knew that we’d discover who his father was, even before we saw the name on the backpack. I was just hoping it wasn’t the case.

Meanwhile, we had the coup against the President. Of course, we want all of the 47 to pack their bags (what bags?) and go home. But it’s all too easy. So it didn’t surprise me that his son turned his back on him and took over. Though it was heartbreaking to see the former President sitting alone in the end in quarantine. After all, it’s his dream to get to the ground, too. He just wanted to do it in a moral way.

So now we have the 47 trapped, waiting for their doom, while Bellamy and Maya figure out what to do next. I wish we had gotten more of a reaction from Jasper, though, when he recognized Bellamy. Man, that’s a reunion I can’t wait to see.

Now let’s get back to our heroine. Clarke discovered that she was the target for an assassination attempt. Abby seemed to be unable to wrap her mind about this, but Clarke was unfazed: Just another day on the ground.

It’s actually interesting. Clarke tried to stay in the background for this particular scenario. Which is probably why it didn’t work all that well. Of course, he wouldn’t answer questions. Even he didn’t see Abby as the real threat. It was always about Clarke.

And eventually, Clarke realized it. She was the one in charge and the only one that could keep the alliance. (And we got that badass march through the Arc for it.) The faceoff with her mother was just fantastic. If that didn’t get you excited for where this was headed, I don’t know what would. Clarke found her power again — and she took hold of it with both hands.

What this will mean for Abby, I don’t know. On the one hand, they still see Clarke as just a child. But then again, Clarke has logged more field time on the ground than all of the people from the Arc. And that will clearly give her an edge.

And yet, there’s something about all this badass-ery that makes me nervous. Nothing goes well on the ground. So what bad situation is waiting for our new leader?

That’s not an easy thing to do. If you’re going to tackle a tough issue, you have to do it well. You have to raise awareness by showing people what they don’t want to see. And honestly, you have to go into places that people probably don’t want to spend their time. And I think Switched at Birth did a commendable job.

It certainly wasn’t an episode I was looking forward to. In the hours leading up to airing, I kept saying how it was going to make me sad. Why sad? Well, because it’s taking on an issue that too many people face today in college campuses. It’s going to be emotionally heartwrenching for Bay. And it’s going to take good ol’ Tank and put him in a very dark light.

And it did all that. We started with Bay waking up naked, next to Tank, wondering what happened. She knew something didn’t go as planned, but she didn’t remember. And, of course, her mind first goes to Emmett, worrying that she cheated on him.

I must applaud the show. It was 25 minutes into the episode before the word “rape” was used. But as viewers, the idea of it hung in the air, so that we were all kept wondering if that’s really what happened. It came as such a surprise when Bay herself heard it and digested what might have happened — what she had a feeling did happen.

And even by the end of the episode, we still don’t really know. We’re not meant to. In situations like these, when it’s a question of drunkenness and he said/she said, we may never know. And I have a feeling that Bay never will (though I suppose that we’ll have to wait until next week to know for sure). We just know it was a bad situation, there are too many shades of gray, and something wasn’t right.

Now, at first, I was a little hesitant that we put Tank in the center of this scenario. But as I think about it more and more, I think it was a fantastic choice on the writers’ part. It’d be easy to assign some nameless, one-episode character to be the one that Bay spent the night with. But in a situation like that, you’d be left thinking that of course it was his fault. He’s just clearly a bad guy.

But in this situation, we know Tank. We know Tank’s not a bad guy. Heck, Travis even said so in last night’s episode. We don’t want to think that Tank was capable of crossing a line like that. And Tank doesn’t think he did. She was into it, he said. She kissed him, he claimed. She didn’t say no.

But what this episode wanted you to take from it was that not saying no isn’t the same as consent. Bay asked, “Did I say yes?” To Tank, this was just a drunken night. To Bay, it was clearly something else.

I must say, I appreciated how they did the flashbacks in this episode, displaying Bay’s fuzziness in blurred vision. And showing the scene in the bedroom was especially effective, using similar dialog but different intonations to indicate the differences in perception and understanding of the situation. It was tense and uncomfortable.

I’m sure many people are standing on both sides of the line, saying that either Bay just got drunk and it happened, or that Tank took advantage. It’s a debate that many people have outside of the Switched at Birth world. Clearly, neither of them were in the best frame of mind that night. But in the end, we’re left with Bay’s lasting message to Daphne: it didn’t feel right. Something felt wrong.

There’s a lot of ways this could go. I can imagine that since she doesn’t know for sure, Bay won’t want to do something to hurt Tank if she’s wrong. But then again, can you just let it go? And while I’m sure we’ll cover Emmett’s reaction, it’s the one I care least about. True, I like “Bemmett” as much as the next guy, but this is about more than that. I care more about what this will really mean for Bay in the long run.

Fortunately, of all people on this show, I know that Vanessa Marano is one that could handle whatever is thrown her way. It’s not going to be a comfortable thing to watch, but if in the end, it does, in fact, start a discussion and raise awareness, it looks like the show’s done its job.

There’s been very little on TV lately that I’ve wanted to write about. And the few things that I have wanted to write about, I haven’t had time. But here in the few days after the finale of Parenthood, now that I’ve mopped up all my sentimental tears, I did want to say a few words about our last hour with the Bravermans.

I couldn’t have thought of a better finale. Sure, it was sappy — but if it weren’t, it just wouldn’t be Parenthood. And maybe it was unrealistically optimistic (Crosby saves the Luncheonette; Adam becomes headmaster at Chambers), but it was just what we needed.

And while nothing groundbreaking happened, some large moments did. Sarah got married, which was a perfect way of getting the whole clan together and happily taking pictures of all of them in all sorts of small groups. Heck, it even got Haddie to return (even if I did still find her annoying, self-centered, and irritating, even as she was trying to be nice to Max — how did she still come across as abrasive and obnoxious?). But we got to feel like we were celebrating with them. And that was nice. We deserve a happy ending.

Of course, we had Zeek’s death. It was sad, but not surprising. It’s the moment we had all been expecting all season. And quite frankly, it was well done. The entire episode wasn’t brought down by a heartbreaking scene, a dark funeral, and teary eulogies. It was a simple discovery, topped off with an appropriate family moment of spreading ashes and celebrating a life through fun and play. Another opportunity to put the family side by side and show what they really are like when they got together.

Of course, there were some surprises. Joel and Julia adopt a brand-new baby girl, for one, which was just wonderful. And then we discover in the flashes forward, that she wasn’t their last baby. They later have a little boy — and get a puppy. Crosby and Jasmine are expecting again. Even Amber had a little girl with Jason freakin’ Street — or at least his doppelganger. And Ryan got his happy ending too, after apparently getting his life together and getting to spend time with his son (thank goodness).

Max even smiled.

Ultimately, it was just a satisfying, uplifting ending on all counts. One that helped us remember the family that we followed for the last six years and rooted on in times of trouble: whether that was Kristina’s cancer, Sarah’s failed relationships, Joel and Julia’s marriage troubles, Crosby’s struggle to become a responsible family man, or even potential cancellation. And it helped remind us that even though the show might end, the Bravermans live on.

So I raise a glass at that famous table, with the lights strung in the trees above, and I say, “Bravo.” It was a great way to end a series. And it may just stand out as one of the most memorable — and maybe one of the best — finales I’ve seen.

Well, I had a rough year on this blog. I was reminded via an automatically generated email — in a very congratulatory way — that I only had 59 new posts this year. Ouch. But hey, here’s number 60.

It only seems fitting in this very up and down year in TV to give a shout out to some of the best and worst moments. While I may have been writing little, I’ve still been trying to watch.

So here goes, with the 2014 Awards from Raked.

Best Surprise Series: The 100. I’ll start with what sticks out in my mind as one of my biggest surprises of the year: The 100. For a show that was touted as the CW’s version of The Hunger Games when first pitched, it quickly became one of my favorite shows. And it’s one of the few that I’m eagerly anticipating week to week. It increasingly surprises me with its twists and turns, and it’s not afraid to make its beautiful cast dirty. No, really. Very few other shows do this, but most of its characters are running around with mud, dirt, and blood streaking their faces all the time. Hair is tangled. Cuts are revealed. Kudos to making it real, especially for a sci-fi series.

Best Season Finale: The Vampire Diaries. Holy crap, Bonnie and Damon died. You could see it coming (heck, Bonnie even knew), but this episode still had me hopping from one leg to another in anxiety as the episode progressed. I was so upset, I wrote about it twice. TWICE. Talk about a cliffhanger. This then leads us to…

Best Dynamic Duo: Bonnie and Damon, The Vampire Diaries. For two characters that despised each other, it was great to see them have to work together in a love-hate friendship back in 1994 (and quite frankly, I just loved revisiting 1994!). I personally think they separated these two too early in the season, but it was nice to hear that sentimental phone call that Damon left on Bonnie’s voicemail once he was back in the present.

Most Ridiculous Branding Ploy: Once Upon a Time. Because OUAT can’t seem to let anything Disney go, we pulled in Frozen. And while I do like the movie, and Elsa and Ana eventually grew on me, at the end of the day, it was a weak storyline that was solely for the purpose of grabbing all those Frozen fans into the series and spreading the Frozen brand. Personally, I’d prefer content over Disney’s attempt to control the world.

Biggest Reality TV Controversy (at least in my house): Top Chef. Should a contestant ever give up immunity? That was the question in last season’s Top Chef (sneaking into 2014 by the skin of its teeth — a January air date). No one had ever been asked to do this before. And it’s a competition show. You’ve won immunity; you shouldn’t have to give it up, whether you made a mistake or not. But be the big man and get yourself back in during Last Chance Kitchen. All this — and more — was debated. It made Nick a jerk but ultimately the winner. Where do you stand on the topic now?

Lamest Use of Guest Stars: Girl Meets World. I’ve been really amped about seeing my favorite Boy Meets World characters return to TV, and the show has done a good job of it with the return of Minkus and Harley. But the recent return of Sean and Cory’s parents was lacking. Overdramatic, unfunny, and not highlighting what I like best about the characters. For example, suddenly Topanga and Cory’s mom have some issues in the kitchen. And diving into the reasons Sean is MIA just seemed over the top. Stick with the best friend bit — the highlight of the episode — and leave the heavy emotion at the door.

Best New Show I Never Thought I’d Watch: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Not that I have anything against John Oliver, or the Daily Show style type of show he was launching at HBO, but I got tired of the Daily Show a while ago; you can only make fun of depressing news (and 2014 had plenty of that) so many times before it wears you out. But Oliver’s weekly show turned out to be hilarious, and carefully measured out at once a week intervals to avoid oversaturation, and his one long story per episode always dug into an important but off-the-radar issue.

Best Season-long Procedural You Watched: True Detective. We didn’t write about it here, but we were continuously impressed with the series. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise. But I did want to reiterate it.

Best Season-long Procedural You Didn’t Watch: Gracepoint. I’m back and forth about the ending — certainly there could have been improvements — but ultimately, I enjoyed the FOX series Grace Point, which was based on a UK series. Good cast. Good acting. It’s too bad no one really saw it.

Biggest Cancellation Mistake: Selfie. Many people mocked Selfie. In fact, when you read the pitch, you probably would, too. But it was cancelled just as it hit its stride. I raise my glass to you, Selfie. You probably could’ve been a good little comedy if you just had a little more time.

Biggest Cancellation Mistake, Part 2: Manhattan Love Story. The mistake here wasn’t cancelling the series. Manhattan Love Story was by far the worst new series to hit the airwaves. The mistake here was that they didn’t cancel it sooner.

Biggest Question of the Year: “Will Zeke Die?”, Parenthood. My goodness, have we gone through the ringer on this one. Previews have hinted at it. We’ve had close calls. And now we’re waiting until January because another promo shows him having heart issues. It’s the final season, so we kind-of expect it. But then again, wouldn’t it be nice to have him holding Amber’s baby as a final scene of the series? And speaking of finales…

Biggest No-Win Situation: How I Met Your Mother. Yes, I was one of those frustrated and outraged by the end of HIMYM. And I still contend that the final episode was unfunny and could use some work. But in the time sense, I’ve given it some thought. The writers of HIMYM couldn’t win. If they did the predictable episode where it ended with Ted meeting the mother and that was it, viewers would complain that it was boring and ask why we spent all this time looking at Robin if it was all moot. But at the same time, the current ending had people complaining the opposite? Why say it was about the mother when it wasn’t? Really, artistic vision, viewer expectations, whatever — they were in a tight spot. It really was a no-win situation.

Worst Forced Christmas Special: Chasing Life. Chasing Life had a lot going for it — but it’s “Christmas episode” was not one of them. Not only did it kill the cliffhanger we were left with, but they forced Christmas in May. The dialog was stilted. The decorations were sparse. If you’re going to do it, do it right. Or better yet, don’t do it at all.

TV Movie I’d Like to Forget: The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story. It was boring. Just boring. And poorly cast and acted. And I read Dustin Diamond’s book in advance of it. I want all that time back.

Well, those are my picks. But what do you think? What should be added to this list? What’s been the best and the worst for you? I know I’m missing some big series. Let me know in the comments.

Midseason finales can be rough. And with a show like The 100, which is rather brutal and surprising every week, this rough finale was no surprise. If you haven’t yet seen last night’s episode and you don’t want to be spoiled, I suggest you stop reading now.

While the events of last night may not have been surprising, they were certainly poignant and painful. In the aftermath of Finn’s massacre and on the brink of war, the Grounders and Skypeople finally came to a truce. Unfortunately, that truce would only move forward if the Skypeople handed over Finn to die the 18 deaths of their people.

Of course, Clarke and crew were against it. Finn was their friend. Finn was one of their people. It was no surprise that Bellamy, Clarke, Raven — even Murphy — were trying to save him. What was surprising, to me at least, was that Clarke’s mother and other officials at Camp Jaha were trying to save him as well.

Why was this strange? Well, sure, he’s just a kid. He shouldn’t have to be handed to an enemy camp for death by torture. But then again, when did those in charge of Camp Jaha — those who used to run the Ark — ever look the other way at death for breaking the law. Floating people was their usual punishment. And while some of that might have been for the purposes of oxygen preservation, somehow I doubt that mentality would change once they were on the ground. It was in their government and culture. You break the law, you die. And when basically world peace is at stake (this is the only world they know now), it seems an obvious choice to sacrifice one boy for the sake of the rest of your people. (Perhaps this is just early insight into discovering that Clarke’s mother may not be all that great of a chancellor.)

What I wasn’t expecting for this episode was the flashbacks, where we finally discovered why Finn had been imprisoned. It wasn’t that he spacewalked himself, but he covered for Raven after helping her do it. Of course, all that was moot once Raven discovered that her physical reason for being held back was overturned given her records. Had Finn never been imprisoned, he would never have gotten on the ground, never met Clarke — well, you get the point.

This guilt for Raven was pushing her to extremes. She was willing to sacrifice Murphy, kill the Grounders’ leader, punch one of the Camp’s own officials. Honestly, this only made the episode better. I worried that we’d focus too much on Clarke and Finn, a relationship that was fine but not my favorite on the series (Bellmay/Clarke shippers unite; you now have your chance). So seeing Finn and Raven’s relationship back in the glory days of the Ark was really nice.

That said, Clarke’s desperate attempt to save Finn’s life — “He did it for me.” “Then he shall die for you.” — was just heartbreaking. And while it will only create a rift between Raven and Clarke (and possibly many others), it was the right choice to kill Finn to save him from the terrible torture ahead of him.

The ending somehow has stayed in my memory long after the episode ended. While it wasn’t necessarily a shock, I suppose I held out hope that somehow Finn would make it (even though you could easily argue that the show will be even better without him now that Clarke has to live with her actions and many people may be angry with her). I even wondered if that stabbing was really a kill — if it was all just a setup to have Finn released.

But no, I think it was the last we’ve seen of Finn, who ended up being a good-hearted kid. And when I woke up this morning, I felt that same sadness I felt as tears fell out of Clarke’s eyes (she did a great job on that scene, by the way). Once again, The 100 impresses. And now I’m just haunted, much like Clarke herself may be, until a January return.

There’s a lot to make fun of about ABC Family, but for some reason, I like some of their original series. Switched at Birth is clearly the front runner for me — I’ve watched it since the beginning. But I was pleasantly surprised by Chasing Life as well. Both of these ended on cliffhangers over the summer, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting their returns in January.

And yet, when I heard these two shows were going to have Christmas specials, I was dismayed. Sure, I might want to see these characters again, but a Christmas special? What will that do with the tension? The show’s canon?

As it turns out, both shows failed when it came to Christmas cheer, but for different reasons. Here’s why.

Switched at Birth

I’ll presume that if you’re reading this, you likely saw the finale of Switched at Birth. If you haven’t, well, you may want to skip down a bit. But at the end of the summer, we were left with a twist where instead of Daphne sauntering into a jail cell, Bay took the blame. Given that Bay has no criminal record but is certainly not the #1 perfect kid, her fate is really up in the air.

And yet, here we are at Christmastime. It was as if the events of the past season — or really, the past seasons — had never happened. In fact, this episode could have been placed in the middle of any season (preferably one without a cliffhanger). It was completely contrived for a rating ploy, trying to get fans to watch.

Sure, it was cute enough. But it just made no sense being placed in the middle of this season. It added nothing to the show and certainly didn’t work within the show’s canon. As someone who desperately clings to canon (I was a Buffy fan, after all), this bugs me.

Ultimately, if a fan missed this episode, they really wouldn’t miss out on the show at all. They could return in January with no lags in memory or plot holes to fill in. They’d be all set. I suppose for a Christmas special, that makes sense then. It’s really optional watching.